


The Lost Princess

by zoeology31



Category: Elena of Avalor (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon Compliant, Character Study, Elena and the Secret of Avalor, Elena is a quasi-mythical figure, Gen, Life under a dictatorship, Pre-Elena and the Secret of Avalor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-14
Updated: 2020-09-14
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:08:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26458462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zoeology31/pseuds/zoeology31
Summary: At sixteen years old, Mateo de Alva had never known a life beyond the tyranny of Shuriki.(Written in late 2016/early 2017)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 23





	The Lost Princess

**Author's Note:**

> I was digging through a bunch of my old half-finished Elena fics from way back in season 1 and found this gem. I think I must've wanted to add more, but it's great as-is so I'm posting it with almost no revisions. My writing style and actual headcanons for the show are pretty different now (notably my headcanon about Mateo's dad no longer matches this fic), but I decided to preserve that early-show mystique rather than update it.

At sixteen years old, Mateo de Alva had never known a life beyond the tyranny of Shuriki.

The old house he shared with his mother sat on the outskirts of town, a winding road away from the footpaths of the soldiers who patrolled the city nightly. It was hidden behind those crumbling stone walls that Mateo learned about Avalor's true heritage, about the vibrant colors of tradition passed down through the centuries that survived, hidden, in defiance of the bleakness around him. He learned through stories woven in the dark by his mother's calming voice, through dusty books stowed beneath a loose floorboard, through a thousand tiny ways whispered desperately to fill the silence that the laughter and music had left behind.

He learned about the beloved royal family, whose names had been stricken from every record book by the sorceress who claimed the throne. The noble king and queen, killed by Shuriki's own hand. The queen's parents and the bright young Princess Isabel, disappeared and presumed dead. And the oldest princess, the kind-hearted Elena, who tried to protect her family at the cost of her own life. But her sacrifice had not been enough to save them. Not enough to save the kingdom.

They had an old painting of Princess Elena, pressed into a small frame beneath the portrait of Queen Shuriki that they kept hanging in the front room in case of surprise inspections. The intricate detail had been preserved so well from the sun that Mateo could still make out the carving on her gold earrings and the bright flecks of amber where her brown eyes caught the light. When he was little, his father would show him the painting and tell him that someday the princess would return to save them all. Each time Mateo would ask _how could she, if she's gone?_ and each time his father would ruffle his hair and say _maybe you'll get to meet her when she comes back, like Mami did a long time ago. Maybe you'll even be friends!_

But the princess couldn't save his family, just like she couldn't save her own. When Mateo was seven he heard the soldiers knocking on their door, and that night he watched them take his father away. A week later his mother took him to lay wreaths at the old cemetery, and a month later he was off to the village school to learn a life that wasn't his and a history he knew was wrong. In time Jaime de Alva was no longer his father, but a ghost, a mere memory etched on his heart in fading ink.

Now it was his mother who sat down with him, holding that pristine painting, and told him stories about the princess's return. The first time Mateo asked her _how?_ she didn't ruffle his hair or tell him he and the princess would be friends. Instead she stared at the far side of the room in silence, as if expecting his father to be standing there watching them. Then she sighed, and Mateo thought the roof might be leaking because of the wetness on her face when she told him the story of an amulet and a wizard.

Finding out his family history was like being struck by lightning, and now that electricity crackled just beneath his skin, waiting. Buffeted ceaselessly by the silence around him, he anchored himself with this knowledge. _I am Mateo, son of Rafaela, daughter of Alacazar. Princess Elena is alive. She is safe in an Amulet. My grandfather is working to free her. Someday she will return. She will save us all._

Every day Mateo repeated this to himself, grounding himself in the certainty of the past in the face of an uncertain future. While his classroom echoed with the monotone voices of students as they pledged allegiance to the Queen, while the Chancellor's voice rang out in the center of town as he delivered the newest royal proclamations, while the sound of soldiers marching down the cobblestone streets or standing watch in the marketplace became mere background to daily activity, still he kept his head down and stood firm. _Someday she will return. She will save us all._

After seven years of trusting in his grandfather's promises, Mateo finally discovered the legacy he had left behind. A hidden chamber, buried like a time capsule deep below the surface, unspoiled by the crushing forces of oppression that reigned above and untouched by human hands since long before his time. Here he found a new world, wilder, but gentler; enthralling, incredible, and forbidden. Magic. He read through books filled with strange creatures and unfamiliar words, and taught himself how to say them. He hoped his grandfather would have been proud.

From the moment he picked up a tamborita and tried out his first spell, Mateo was committed to finish what his grandfather had started. From then on he lived both a truth and a lie, defying the rule of a regime that had terrorized his life in service of something greater than himself. So when jaquins spiraled down from the sky one summer day, he stopped to listen. And when the girl with destiny around her neck told him _your grandfather sent me here to free Princess Elena_ , he knew this was the moment.

_Princess Elena is alive. She is safe in that Amulet. I am working to free her. Soon she will return. She will save us all._

Suddenly everything was set in motion, and he was watching in amazement as this tenacious young princess snatched the wand from the sorceress herself and conquered trial after trial in her quest to free Princess Elena. Then Elena was there, in the flesh, and Mateo wasn't quite sure how it took 41 years to get to this point. But as she stood at the crown of Aziluna, proclaiming an end to Shuriki's reign as she held up the wand with blazing eyes, any doubts he had about her deliverance of Avalor were swiftly erased.

At sixteen years old, Mateo de Alva had never known a life beyond the tyranny of Shuriki. But the Lost Princess had returned to Avalor, and he could see freedom on the horizon.


End file.
